F&I Blamed for ‘Tank’ in Dealership Experience Scores

Jul. 7, 2025 | |

Americans who purchased new vehicles in June describe a significantly less enjoyable dealership experience than those surveyed just one month earlier, according to CDK Global’s latest Ease of Purchase Scorecard, which finds buying a car was “easy” for 77% of respondents last month, down from 90% the month before.

In the report, titled “Car Buyer Satisfaction Tanks in June,” analysts say additional metrics point to difficulties with the F&I process: About half (53%) of respondents describe the credit application process as “easy,” down from more than two-thirds (67%) in May. The number of buyers who say the same of F&I product selection fell from 66% to 57%. The number who say filling out paperwork was “easy” fell from 74% to 68%.

Worse yet, expectations for time spent at the dealership were not met. The June survey registered negatively trending responses for “less [time] than expected” (18%), “what I expected” (45%) and “more than expected” (36%).

“Having issues with credit often leads to fluctuations in the interest rates buyers can secure impacting the final price. That could explain why agreeing on the final price saw a significant drop in June as well, falling to 56% from 65% in May,” it states. “And despite a bustling used car market driving valuations up — making customers generally happy with their trade-in value — that was not the case in June. Less than half (48%) said agreeing on the trade-in value was easy, down from 55% in May.”

Read the full report at CDK Global